Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ON THE DECLINE OF FAITH, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: As in some half-burned forest, one by one Last Line: Hold fast to god, and god will hold thee fast! Subject(s): Faith; Belief; Creed | ||||||||
As in some half-burned forest, one by one, We catch far echoes on the doleful breeze, Born of the downfall of its ruined trees; While even thro' those which stand, slow shudderings run, As if Fate's ruthless hand were laid thereon; So, in a world sore-smitten by foul disease, -- That Pest, called Doubt -- we mark by slow degrees. The fall of many a faith that wooed the sun: Some, with low sigh of parting bough, or leaf, Strain, quivering downward to the abhorred ground; Some totter feebly, groaning toward their doom; While some broad-centuried growths of old Belief, Sapped as by fire, defeatured, charred, discrowned, Fall with a loud crash, and long reverberant boom! Thus, fated hour by hour, more gaunt and bare, Gloom the wan spaces, whence, a power to bless, Up burgeoned once, in grace or stateliness, Some creed divine, offspring of light and air; What then? and must we yield to blank despair, Beholding God Himself wax less and less, Paled in the skeptical storm-cloud's whirl and stress, Till all is lost -- love, reverence, hope, and prayer. O man! when faith succumbs, and reason reels, Before some impious, bold iconoclast, Turn to thy heart that reasons not, but feels; Creeds change! shrines perish! still (her instinct saith), Still the soul lives, the soul must conquer Death. Hold fast to God, and God will hold thee fast! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...UNHOLY SONNET 4 by MARK JARMAN QUIA ABSURDUM by ROBINSON JEFFERS GOING TO THE HORSE FLATS by ROBINSON JEFFERS SONNET TO FORTUNE by LUCY AIKEN JONATHAN EDWARDS IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS by ROBERT LOWELL RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION by MINA LOY A STORM IN THE DISTANCE (AMONG THE GEORGIAN HILLS) by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE |
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